We flew into San Jose the previous Thursday and rented a car for the weekend. We got there just in time to help grandson, Timmy, celebrate his birthday. We enjoyed a visit to Reed and Dorothy's for that purpose and had a great visit, including meeting grandson James' new girlfriend. He is set to join the Navy in June. It will be interesting to see how that works out for him.
Timmy loves legos. That is just about all he got for his birthday!
My father's younger brother, my Uncle Mike, lives in the Bay Area. He is 97 now and becoming a little frail. He's now staying with daughter Judy and her husband, Stan. We visited them in San Francisco on Friday. Uncle Mike was lying on a bed in their living room. I had a sweet visit with him, until he became too tired. I fear that he will soon be gone. He is the last of the "older" generation in our family. When he is gone, we are next! We had a sweet visit with Judy and Stan too. I felt impressed that I should give them a Book of Mormon, so I did. I get worried about doing that as I'm afraid of not introducing it properly. But I did the beset I could. I hope they will read it. I have quite tender feelings for my cousin Judy. She and Stan are good people.
We headed to Palo Alto on Saturday morning for Abigail's baptism. I was blessed to speak on baptism. I've spoken at the baptisms of most of our grandchildren and I've tried to make each talk unique for each child. I struggled this time but had an impression to use music, and, of course, pictures. So I illustrated each point in the talk with an illustration with Abigail's picture inserted. As I spoke of heaven and the Lord, Reed played a sweet little melody. When I spoke of temptations and Satan, he played a deep unharmonious sound. I worried that it might not work well, but it did. Reed did a perfect job and made it quite memorable. We had a generally sweet time with all the family there, during the baptismal service and during the luncheon afterwards.
Ben and Abigail, just before her baptism. The hot water heater was broken, so she was immersed in cold water. She didn't seem to notice!
Granddaughter Rayne went to the temple for the first time last month. We missed being there for that, so I felt anxious to go through with her during this trip. So we did Saturday afternoon. I love being in the Oakland Temple! It is "our" temple and runs with such a warm, loving spirit. Being with Rayne is always a happy goal with me so it was wonderful to spend this little bit of time with her and Audrey and Cliff.
Our Adams-Harts outside the Temple: Rayne, Layne, Audrey and Cliff.
Earlier in the week Ben invited us to go dancing with him, Jessica and Jessica's parents, Judy and John Ault. Dancing. Ben doesn't like to dance. He resisted all my efforts to teach him when he was little. So this invitation was interesting, coming from Ben. It turns out that a good friend of his recently retired and is opening a dance "club" of sorts. He wants to sponsor a couple of big event dances a year, complete with a gourmet dinner, in various venues around the area. His opening event was February 11th. He wanted a full house, so he told Ben that if he and Jessica (and the rest of us) would come, there would be no charge. So Ben agreed.
Could I turn such an invitation down? Absolutely not! Layne didn't give me much resistance either. We agreed to go! Then I asked him what the dress was. Formal. Oh dear. That calls for a fancier outfit than I have and a tux for Layne. I managed to find something that would do, and Layne rented a tux. We set off. What fun it was! We danced all night and Layne did a great job of allowing me to lead him along. Usually he forgets the dance step if I distract him with chatter, but not that night. He was right on. It has been so long since we have danced. I loved it. And I loved seeing my Ben dance with his lovely girl for many of the dances. He even let me give him some dancing pointers. Maybe he will get into it yet. Dancing, you know, is like any physical activity. It isn't much fun until your body learns what to do without effort and concentration. But once the body is trained to it, dancing is euphoric! Plus it can be a wonderful way to meet people.
Layne in his rented tux, before we left for the dance. Doesn't he look excited?
After a lovely Sabbath with Audrey and Cliff, Reed and Dorothy and kids, we headed home early Monday morning. We have been involved in tons of activities ever since. I'm grateful that we can pull off such a frantic pace at this time of life. Well, not without a few naps. Since our return, the snow has retreated and the temperatures are up. We are now into rain, not snow. "What a winter," the locals deep repeating. In a complaining sort of way, mostly. But I have loved it. This amazing winter appears to be on the departure trail now. Perhaps Spring is around the corner.
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